Otay Mesa, Calif. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and import specialists at the Otay Mesa cargo port of entry identified and seized 13,843 counterfeit toys that violated intellectual property rights in the months leading up to the December holiday season.
Beginning
with a shipment during the last week of October, and ending with a
shipment stopped at the beginning of December, import specialists
identified 5,472 counterfeit Barbie dolls, 24 counterfeit Cinderella
dolls, 12 counterfeit Bratz dolls, 4,692 counterfeit Barbie medical
playsets, 1,600 counterfeit hand-held Tetris electronic games, 36
counterfeit Lego blocks sets, 20 Chargers Bolt masks, 10 Superman
mask/cape combinations, nine Spiderman mask/cape combinations, 816 toy
cell phones with counterfeit Barbie, Mickey Mouse, and Winnie the Pooh
images, and 1,152 counterfeit Disney’s 101 Dalmatians toy dogs.
Together,
the toys had an estimated domestic value of about $26,700, the value of
the toy to the company, and a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of
$198,000, the approximate price of what the toys would sell for to
consumers in the United States.
The
toys arrived on nine different shipments from various companies. Most of
the shipments were exports, heading into Mexico. However, the shipment
containing the counterfeit Chargers Bolt masks and Superman and
Spiderman mask/cape combinations were imports, destined for markets in
the United States before they were stopped at the border.
In
each instance, CBP officers discovered the potentially counterfeit
merchandise, and turned samples over to CBP import specialists for
review. In each case, the import specialist determined that the toys
were counterfeit, violating existing copyrights and trademarks. The
import specialist also determined that the toys were of poor quality,
and lacked any of the required licensing information.
CBP seized all of the counterfeit toys.
An
important part of the CBP mission remains the facilitation of
legitimate trade. In addition to its own regulations, CBP enforces more
than 400 laws on behalf of more than 40 other U.S. government agencies. A
large number of these import restrictions and requirements are designed
to protect the American people from dangerous and illegal goods, and
protect the U.S. economy, which is based on the premises of fair trade.
CBP
has designated intellectual property rights enforcement as a priority
trade issue. The strategic approach to IPR enforcement is multi-layered
and includes seizing fake goods at our borders, pushing the border
outward through audits of infringing importers and cooperation with our
international trading partners, and partnering with industry and other
government agencies to enhance these efforts.
U.S.
Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the
Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and
protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of
entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out
of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
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